In Room 108 of the Husky Union Building, close to 50 Muslim students knelt in prayer yesterday afternoon.

In the opposite corner, more than two dozen Jewish students stood and quietly prayed.

Their devotions completed, the University of Washington students mingled and shared a fragrant meal of lamb, chicken, salmon, rice and salad, prepared in accordance with Jewish and Islamic dietary requirements.

"I wanted the assumption that Jews and Muslims can't get along to be thrown out the window," said Saboora Chaudhry of the Muslim Student Association and co-chairwoman of the gathering. "I don't want people to say we can't get along -- it's just not true."

Mindy Goldberg, her counterpart at Hillel, a Jewish student organization, surveyed the room with satisfaction.

"I think this is perfect," said Goldberg, the other co-chairwoman. "The seats are filled. I'm really happy."

About 100 students and other members of the campus community, including Christians, came together for what was billed as a "Fast Food" dinner. The event celebrated the breaking of the daily fast by Muslims during their holy month of Ramadan and allowed each group to learn about fasting in Islam and Judaism.

The gathering was the first of its kind at the UW. Similar dinners have been held at other universities, including UCLA, Columbia and Yale.

When Miriam Bensky of Hillel heard about a successful dinner at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., she approached Humza Chaudhry, Saboora's brother and president of the Muslim Student Association at the UW.

Both groups bought into the idea, with representatives holding planning sessions the past six weeks.

The popular public perception is that Muslims and Jews are at eternal enmity, and political events on campus, along with heated exchanges between students writing in the UW student newspaper, only fueled that impression.

The purpose of yesterday's get-together was twofold, Humza Chaudhry said.

"First, for our own people to get together and realize that their counterparts aren't crazy and don't hate them," he said. "Second, to show everybody else that this beef isn't between our religions. In fact, we can come together and function just fine."

As long as politics is not on the table, that is. No one mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during a question-and-answer period that preceded the prayers, though students did ask one another about the meaning of Ramadan, the timing of Yom Kippur, the reasons for fasting, the concept of atonement and other straightforward topics.

"Leave your politics behind and make history as Muslim and Jewish students gather together over dinner to discuss the meaning of fasting in each tradition," read a Hillel promotion for the event.

Hillel member Joey Katz told the audience that Jews fast for 25 hours at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

"The goal is self-reconciliation with others and with God," he said, listing a number of reasons for fasting: to gain humility by thinking of others rather than oneself, to undergo a sacrifice, to upholds thousands of years of tradition and to gain mental strength.

Humza Chaudhry said the Quran tells Muslims to fast "so that you may fear God."

"Fasting is a way of waking up, of coming out of ignorance," he said. "Fasting is about . . . being better; about making yourself better."

"I had no clue that there was anything at all to do with fasting in the Jewish religion," he said. "Something like this is a more positive thing (than politicized campus events). A positive dialogue is better to improve relations."

Several students said Jews and Muslims had much in common, if not agreement, including a major religious figure (Abraham), geographic areas of influence, culture and history.

Jewish student Michael Wander took an Islamic civilizations class and studied Arabic, in part because his mother is Moroccan. "I feel a connection to that and decided to learn" the language, he said.

Christa Eide, a Christian who studied comparative religions and graduated from the UW last year, called the dinner "awesome" for combining education with face-to-face contact. "It focuses on relationships instead of that other stuff," she said.

Goldberg said both groups might hold future events, such as a forum on the role of women in Islam and Judaism.

"I hope today will mark the beginning of a bridge," said Katz, who said participants were at the forefront of an effort that could be as monumental as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, the turning point in the desegregation of public schools.